宗鏡錄 21.17

21.17

答。因緣之法。誠有此理。但經云。如釋摩男。此莫不是示旨。欲明法無定相以祛眾生封滯之甚耳。餓鬼惑故。見水為火。不遂是火也。所以域絕者。石沙之人。不得同生安養故也。釋云。淨取無穢者。不以形為淨。取無形為淨。又云。七珍無石沙之穢為淨。不取七珍為淨。若畜生與人善業相隣。所以同履石沙。善勝事精者。人天業殊故。人絕階七珍之土。畜生不及。人為苦者。緣遭鞭楚烹宰。及自互相食噉等苦。人無此事故。云不及人為苦。鑪鑊者。輕趣與人同處故。經云。諸小地獄。在鐵圍山間。或海邊曠野等是也。若阿鼻獄等。即與人別居。天善為勝。七珍事精。所以與人限域隔絕。

Answer: In the dharma of dependent origination, there is indeed this principle. But when the sūtra speaks of cases like Mahānāma, is this not showing a purport, intending to clarify that dharmas have no fixed characteristics in order to dispel sentient beings' severe attachments? Because hungry ghosts are deluded, they see water as fire, but it does not thereby actually become fire. As for why their realms are separated: people of stone and sand cannot be born together in the Land of Peaceful Nurture. The commentary explains: ‘purity is understood as freedom from defilement’ means that one does not take form as pure, but takes the formless as pure. It also says: the seven treasures being free of the defilement of stone and sand is pure; one does not take the seven treasures themselves as pure. If the good karma of animals and humans is adjacent, they therefore tread upon stone and sand together. That ‘superior goodness produces refined states’ means that because human and deva karma are distinct, humans are cut off from ascending to the land of the seven treasures. That animals do not equal humans and suffer [more] pain is because they suffer the pains of being whipped, slaughtered, and devouring one another, whereas humans do not have these things; hence it is said they do not equal humans and suffer [more] pain. As for the ‘cauldrons’, the lighter destinies dwell together with humans, as the sūtra says: ‘The minor hells are between the Iron Surrounding Mountains, or by the seashore, in the wilderness, and so on.’ But the Avīci Hell and the like are separate from humans. Deva goodness is superior, and the seven treasures are refined; therefore they are demarcated and separated from humans.